Was pool man back in full contact? It’ll be interesting to see if Niku stays with Morrissey. I like the Connor and a Ehlers swap. I’m just worried we’re going to have a very unproductive bottom 6 this year.

If I remember correctly I heard Poolman was out of the non contact jersey but was still skating with the morning group which is pretty much the guys that aren't making the team which seems strange but he'll probably be back with the main group tomorrow, wouldn't read too much into that.

In his media interview this afternoon Maurice was asked about Niku and where he sees him with the organization at this point and Maurice's response was he sees him in the top 8 dmen, can also tell from his comments that Niku has a very short leash with Maurice, one fu*k up and I'm sure Niku will be scratched.

Totally agree about the bottom 6, been saying it for years that it really is their biggest weakness and yet with the various pieces he has to experiment with Maurice just keeps doing the same thing, at least there's a few different faces this year and they should be better then who was there last season so just by elimination it should be a bit better..Lol.. BUT not as good as it could be if the lines were configured differently imo.

Okay good to know on poolman, I figured Niku was likely on a short leash, but I saw Maurice say he has a lot of time for Niku which is interesting. I’d like to see him get an extended look in that spot, hopefully the bottom six can be a bit better this year.

Would be really fun and interesting to see how Niku would do on the top pair, don't think that'll last though.

I know this is an unpopular take but I really think Perfetti should go back to junior, Heinola to Finland and Samberg to the Moose. I know Heinola is ready but sliding his ELC has benefits to the long-term cap situation and that way Niku would have a chance to prove himself one way or another, if Heinola is here he has no chance as Heinola will be the priority for Maurice. This is Samberg’s first camp, give him time to adjust in the AHL, no point in rushing him, he's a #4 dman at best anyway, could give Perfetti a game or two I guess but he's definitely not ready for the NHL so I don't see the point, think his development arc is going to be similar to Scheifele's to be honest.

Wish they'd sign Roslovic and let him center the 3rd line, never happening though, I predicted this exact thing would happen last offseason and I was right, I don't blame him for requesting a trade.

Sounds like you heard the same interview then.. Lol

I thought when Maurice said "he had lots of time for Niku" he also said if he keeps progressing or playing right or something like that, idk maybe I heard wrong.

He said that he’s going to be in the lineup and if he takes off he’ll keep that job. So to me that sounds like he’s going to give him a chance to take that spot.

Hopefully, pretty sure I heard Maurice reiterate that Niku was in the top 8, seemed to me he was trying to be clear that Niku was making the team but wasn't saying he'd actually play.. Lol

I hope Maurice just gives Niku a legit chance to sink or swim.

Yeah you summed it up pretty accurately, a Vezina winning goalie but the Jets D core is pretty weak but a breakout year from one of their young guys like Niku, Heinola or Samberg could really improve it drastically, they really can't afford an injury on their backend though. The Jets top 6 is very good, the bottom 6 could proably be decent as there is some decent players in the bottom 6 but Maurice can't get the most out of the bottom 6 players he has, he just really makes a useless 3rd line which also makes the 4th line useless, it's really frustrating how he runs his bottom
two lines.

I think the Canadian division is gonna be pretty wide open, I know the Leafs are considered the best of the 7 teams and they may be but it's pretty close really, just looking at the lineups of the Canadian teams other then Ottawa I think any of them could end up first in the division, gonna be interesting to see how it all plays out.

I think Maurice’s appraoch with niku is patience. Maurice knows that when niku is making plays, he’s effective, otherwise he’s a negative on the ice at this point in his career. Therefore, I agree with maurice when he said that he will stick if he preforms well. There will be growing pains, but imo he sticks in the roster if he can routinely make a play that causes a prime scoring chance or goal for the jets at least once a game, which we know he is capable of.

Pretty much. The goaltending is elite no doubt and so are the top 6 forwards. But the bottom 6 will be about the same as it has been in previous years (just below average) and the defense is going to be anywhere from good to average to brutal

I’ll go ahead and explain why I think the defence could be all over the place:

I’ll go into the parts we know first. Demelo really helped our back end when he came in. With him our d-core was miles better already. So it won’t be as bad as last year. Now, as good as kulikov was for a couple of games last year, he was terrible overall. Forbort is a definite upgrade over him. He’s not great but he’s passable. Finally, the poolman-beaulieu pairing was great last year. Therefore, if no kids make the team, this team is still better that the d-core from last year. It’s still below average but not brutal imo. Now if we get an injury under this scenario, it’s brutal lol

Scenario 2 which I think is more likely than the last. One of heinola or niku breakout this season and play in a top 4 capacity. This automatically makes the jets d-core average at least imo.

Finally, the last scenario and the one I’m hoping for, both heinola and niku breakout. This woudl guve the jets, though young, a very good d-core. I imagine something like:

JoMo-niku
Forbort-pionk
Heinola-demelo

I think with one rental (or a Roslovic trade) to get a top 4 d-man in forborts place makes defence a strong point in this scenario. Even without that trade, this d-core is good imo. Definitely has forbort playing higher than he should but that’s just to balance size and I think he can handle the minutes. That’s best case imo and not too unlikely. If heinola can impress enough after coming over and get into a few games and niku can show off the skill he has, this becomes a reality. That said, it’s a best case and best cases rarely come true. I just hope chevy makes a rental for a stopgap top 4 ld soon so this defence is at least average.